About Bethel

Bethel Church is a small friendly Bible-teaching church in a small friendly Yorkshire town.

We want people across Lower Wharfedale to hear the wonderful message of all that God has done for them in Jesus. We want believers to be built up in the Gospel, and we want our church family to love and serve one another and our surrounding community.

We aim to make the Bible’s message accessible, understandable, and available to everyone, preaching the good news of Jesus to ourselves, each other and the world around around us.

History

Bethel has been in Otley for just over 100 years and started life as a Methodist Mission Hall. We have met in various buildings over the last 100 years, at different times and with slightly different names, but our commitment to the Jesus Christ and His Gospel have been been with us throughout. In September 2016 we got a new pastor, Chris Haley, who took over from the previous pastor who had served in Otley for 30 years!

Affiliations

We are part of the wider church nationally through the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC), a group of around 600 churches, and regionally through the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership. We are not in any way affiliated with Bethel Church, Redding in California (we get asked that a lot!)

Finding Out More

If you want to know more about us please have a look around our website. The best way to find out about is to come along on a Sunday. We meet at 10:30am at The Chevin Community Centre and 6pm at Bethel Church Hall. We also have two Life Groups, one based in Otley and one based in Ilkley.

For people who would really like to find out more about Christianity, starting with the basics we run courses like Christianity Explored. You will also find any of our Sunday meetings a great opportunity to find out more.